F&W Forestry acquires London-based firm

ALBANY — Albany’s F&W Forestry Services greatly increased its global operations this week when officials with the forest management and consulting firm announced it had completed the acquisition of London-based O.C.S. Group Ltd.’s forestry and land subsidiaries.

The acquisition, which was announced via a press release Thursday, said the acquisition now gives F&W control of three new companies, including Fountains Forestry Inc., a forest management firm, and Fountains Lands Inc., a retail forest real estate firm, both of which are located in the Northeastern United States.

The deal also includes the purchase of Fountains Forestry UK Ltd., a forest management and real estate firm, operating in England, Scotland and Wales.

“The addition of the Fountains companies to the F&W family will improve and strengthen our ability to provide consistent and reasonably standardized service to our client base across a greater geographic region,” said F&W Forestry President Marshall Thomas. “This is a good fit for F&W’s strategy of being a U.S. and international provider of forestry services with local presence and expertise.”

The increased worldwide presence F&W gains from the deal is part of the company’s major expansions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S., and it also signifies the company’s first entry into the United Kingdom, thus giving the company one of the United States’ oldest and largest land management group holdings in Europe.

In addition to the seven new offices F&W gains through the acquisition, the company also has 25 offices it maintains in the U.S., Uruguay, Brazil and France.

Despite the increased presence globally and within the U.S., F&W continues to have a strong connection to Southwest Georgia, having been founded in Albany in 1962.

In fact, Thomas referenced that fact after the announcement, mentioning how thrilled he was for the company’s employees in Albany who will be working in these new markets with the many new clients.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity this provides for our staff in Albany, to expand the operations and activities into different parts of the country and around the world,” he said.

Thomas also mentioned F&W’s core South Georgia customer base, saying that not only will the company’s local customers remain an important focus for the firm, he hopes the various skills and techniques the company’s employees learn while managing forests elsewhere will be of benefit to those clients.

“Of course, F&W remains committed to its local clientele, which has been the source of all our recent growth,” said Thomas. “I think the knowledge we gain in these other locations will help us to better manage their forests here.”

Overall, the acquisition is quite a boon for the company as the O.C.S. Group purchase increases the size of F&W’s managed land portfolio, adding more than 535,000 acres of managed forests and woodlands to the 1.6 million acres it already manages in the U.S. and overseas.

The deal also adds 50 employees, all of whom are being retained by F&W, to the company’s current labor force of roughly 185 employees.

In the press release, Thomas said the retention of the employees and management from three companies was an important part of the acquisition, as it will allow F&W to provide quality and reliable service to its customers.

“Taking care of our clients throughout this transition is our top priority,” Thomas said.

To learn more about F&W and the acquired companies, visit www.fwforestry.net, www.fountainsamerica.com and www.fountainsforestry.co.uk.